Question: For some time great Kabbalists lived in Russian cities: the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and others. Did this influence the spirit of Russian Jewry?

Answer: Without a doubt, students of the Baal Shem Tov lived in every city. The Baal Shem Tov first began to apply the wisdom of Kabbalah that the Ari revealed in the 16^th century. He taught this to his many Kabbalist students, those who attained the highest level in the system. Their role was to arouse inspiration in the people, to correctly elevate, stabilize, and lead them forward. This was the idea of restoring the spirit of the people, which they had already lost at the time of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple), when they fell from the level of mutual love to mutual hatred. So the need ripened to raise the people from the egoistic level of rejection, to the altruistic level of mutual love.

The Baal Shem Tov established what was called Hassidism, practical Kabbalistic work. But it is necessary to say that the Hassidism of today is much different. The Baal Shem Tov changed the study of the Ari to bring it closer to the people and show them them inner correction. In this way, he implemented the general rule of the Torah, “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” The people were then able to leave both spiritual and physical exile, because one is connected to the other. But if a person was not ready for spiritual redemption, he also would not attain physical freedom.

So for two generations until the 18^th century, the Kabbalistic current that was called Hassidism prospered. In every village and settlement, there were people who were involved in attaining the Creator on the basis of the right connection between them, which is what the Torah requires. In this way, Judaism became spiritual, and many people appeared who became teachers. At the same time, opponents of Hassidism appeared, but no matter what, both groups began to rise spiritually and this played an immense role in influencing the environment.

Around that time, opportunistic people began to appear, which changed everything and replaced the popular current so that they were no longer involved with the attainment of Torah. Instead, they simply carried out the physical Mitzvot (commandments) with some kind of slightly greater inner aspiration, but no more than that. This means that Hassidism fell to a lower level. But until the end of the 19^th century and in spite of all this, there were still a multitude of Kabbalists who felt the higher world, the system of management. From this, they taught others. This very strongly influenced the spirit of Russian Jewry and was rooted in them forever. So the continued discovery of the spiritual world, the discovery of the soul, the feeling of the upper world, and the entire system of discovery of the Creator as the higher force of management, pushed, and today still pushes a large part of the Jews of Russia towards true spiritual attainment.

Among my students today, it is possible to find many from the former Soviet Union and Russians still living in Russia. Even today, the spiritual potential that was inserted into them by the followers of the Baal Shem Tov still lives within them.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 5/07/15

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Question: How is it that the three world religions that have so many disagreements with each other agree that Jerusalem is the holy city?

Answer: All three religions of the world are connected with Abraham and with the fact that the wisdom of Kabbalah went into concealment. About two thousand years ago, after the destruction of the Second Temple, the people of Israel fell from the spiritual degree they were previously on, from brotherly love, and fell into unfounded hatred.

All that the Jews had taken from the holy Kabbalistic books turned into the Judaism of exile. Thus, Judaism developed followed by Christianity and then Islam. All of these religions emerged because the people of Israel lost their spirituality.

Both Christianity and Islam borrowed their symbols from Judaism, and that is why Jerusalem became a holy city for them. Everyone feels that this city has something special—Jews, Muslims, and Christians—because such an attitude is instilled in a person from his childhood.

But it is one thing to attribute sanctity to stones and another thing to build Jerusalem in one’s heart. Jerusalem is a “perfect city”; it is the properties in which a person reveals the Creator. The upper force of bestowal and love is revealed in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem.

The heart is all the human desires. To reveal the Creator means to achieve these corrected properties that allow me to bestow to everyone. If I come out of my egoism and begin to love the other like myself, then in this aspiration I reveal the land of Israel (Yashar El – straight to God), the perfect city Jerusalem, my corrected properties of bestowal, and the Temple, and the Creator in them, and unite with Him.

Everyone eventually strives to achieve this true concept of Jerusalem, but does not know what is hidden behind it. All the people must go through this process of internal creation of oneself, regardless of the religion they profess.

Indeed, we all came out of Babylon. Some joined Abraham and went with him, and some of the Babylonians were not yet ready for this. But in the end, everyone should come to this, as it is written, “…for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest” and “…my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Therefore, Jerusalem is at the center of general attention because all the peoples should gather in it—not physically, but in a spiritual sense. Religions only prepare humanity to the stage where we are now, to come to the revelation of the Creator.

Question: How will our world look when every person builds Jerusalem inside himself?

Answer: All the people will become brothers. The concept of Jerusalem means that we all are connected to each other and become brothers, as one man in one heart. This state is called the “perfect city.”

Question: In this case, it does not matter which religion one professes, correct?

Answer: Then, there will be no religion. They all will disappear, as they are replaced by the knowledge of the Creator, as it is written, “Know your Creator.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/7/15

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Question: Today the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah has become fashionable. Its devotees are celebrities, like Madonna. Does this disturb or help your global goal to bring a person to a spiritual nature?

Answer: On the one hand, it draws people’s attention to the wisdom of Kabbalah since they begin to read and become interested in it. On the other hand, Madonna and others  are not actually engaged in Kabbalah. Nothing can be done about it; this is how humanity develops. When it comes to the great spiritual system, there is no immediate understanding nor perception of what this is, so people approach this question from various angles.

Even the students who come to us to study don’t understand exactly where they are for half a year or more. They can be compared to those who studied quantum physics. There too, for a year students go around half in despair from lack of understanding. A person cannot immediately enter into a new dimension, so in the wisdom of Kabbalah, there must be a period of adjustment.

Question: Do these celebrities help you?

Answer: This doesn’t depend on them; rather, it is the need, the demand, and the imperative of the person. People come to the wisdom of Kabbalah when the question about the meaning of life pokes at their soul: “What am I living for?!” If this question burns in a person, he feels a lack of meaning in his existence and he cannot be at peace with this, so ultimately he reaches us. But if the question about the meaning of life is satisfied for him through food, sex, wealth, family, knowledge, etc., then he is stuck somewhere in these levels of satisfaction. This is neither good nor bad; in the meantime, the person is simply found on this level of development.

For some time I myself searched for the meaning of life, beginning with science and after that religion, and I didn’t find it in them. And when this became completely unbearable, I was advised to search for Kabbalists. I searched for my teacher for four years, and when I found him, I understood that this was for me.
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From the press conference 3/11/15

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Question: How do you react to the fact that sometimes your organization is called a sect? A sect is something that stands outside of the generally accepted outlook. In other words, Judaism presents certain things one way, whereas you explain them in a completely different way. Those representing the Orthodox Judaism are very frustrated by this fact.

Answer: Naturally, those who are engaged in Kabbalah stay under the watchful eye of traditional Judaism. After all, until the Jews were expelled, there was no such thing as Judaism per se, since our people observed the major law of existence: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” And now we must return to it. But it contradicts conventional religion because religion forgot that loving our neighbors is its foundation..

Three and a half thousand years ago in ancient Babylon, Abraham, the founder of all world religions, revealed the purpose of human evolution: harmonizing everyone with nature (the Creator – Elokim), the numeric value of which in Gematria is identical to the word “Tèva” (nature).

Having disclosed this issue, Abraham wrote his first book on Kabbalah Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation). Even today it is sold in bookstores even though it was written many centuries ago.

According to Abraham’s understanding, humanity faces the challenge of altering our self-centered nature and replacing it with an authentic, altruistic nature, i.e., attaining the condition of loving our neighbors as ourselves.

We are not a people in the conventional sense of the word. Rather, we are a group who three-and-a-half thousand years ago banded together under an ideological principle.

Therefore, you can call all the Jews a sect, although most of them still don’t know where they come from or why they are here.

For one-and-a-half thousand years before year zero year of our era, we lived above our egos and observed the law of loving our neighbors as ourselves. They are not just  words but an indication of the need to change human nature.

Later, we fell to the level called “the destruction of the Temple” or “the exile.” The last two thousand years we have lived in exile.

That is why religion appeared instead of Kabbalah. Religion claimed that if one mechanically fulfills all commandments, then one will stay healthy and happy, and after death will receive a place in paradise.

Until the 16^th century, the wisdom of Kabbalah was hidden from humanity, and in the 16^th century it was re-discovered for us by the great Kabbalist the ARI who lived in Tzfat. Later, the famous Kabbalist Baal Shem Tov began disseminating Kabbalah in Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine.

The writings of Baal Shem Tov’s disciples are not just Hassidism! It is authentic and true Kabbalah! So, since ARI’s time and on, Kabbalah was revived once again in the form of loving thy neighbor as thyself, because by observing this law we attain similarity with nature that is absolutely closed, and inside is at the level of synergy, perfection, and harmony.

Later, the great Kabbalist of the 20^th century Baal HaSulam wrote commentaries on ARI’s works and on The Book of Zohar. He simplified the language and made these sources available to us.

We believe that the law of “loving our neighbors as ourselves” is the core of our existence. Today it is essential to revive this law because the world has reached a general, overall crisis. The science of Kabbalah says that this is not just a minor, transient crisis; rather, it is a transition point to the next existential level.

We are facing a transformational challenge: either we’ll reach similarity with nature, i.e., build a homogeneous, common, inclusive society with the help of Kabbalah that explains to us how to once again become one people and teaches us the ways of leading humanity to oneness or…  . The important thing is that we must do so voluntarily, consciously, knowingly, having a deep understanding of what is happening and what we are doing.

Otherwise we’ll be forced to pursue this path by nature, which we become even more opposite to.

And here we might face a severe problem, a huge upsurge of anti-Semitism is on the way. It is not a temporary phenomenon. It’s a profound, permanent condition that might make the nations of the world hate the people of Israel. It will be the greatest animosity ever; it will lead the whole world to tremendous hardships, even to the next world war.

This explains why we just cannot stay calm or indifferent. It is essential to explain to everybody that the message “love thy neighbor as thyself” are not just beautiful words that we use to calm down our children when telling them “Don’t fight! Be nice to your friends.” It in fact is the general law of integrity and global interconnectedness of nature, whereas humanity acts as a cancerous tumor that devours itself.

Therefore, according to the natural law of development, we must bring ourselves to conformity with the basic law, the law of homeostasis.
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From the Press Conference 3/11/15

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Question: All three religions consider Jerusalem as a holy city. Why is there a very special attitude to this city as if it connects a person with the upper force?

Answer: “Jerusalem” means “perfect city.” It is a spiritual concept that does not add holiness to the material city and its stones.

While the human being is made very complex, he is strongly influenced by the force of simple human faith, the power of placebo, his beliefs. Thus, arriving in Jerusalem, people feel that this is a special place.

But this is a special holy place created by people themselves by their attitude to this city, but the material city has no holiness. All the differences between geographic locations are in their spiritual roots.

It is written in the book of the great Kabbalist Ari, The Tree of Life, that the whole land is divided into areas according to special spiritual powers that affect them: Jerusalem, the land of Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Babylon, and all other countries of the world.

This refers to the spiritual roots, but there is no difference in physical stones. But people who live in this world are impressed by each other and thus give these these stones, air, and geographical location special designations.

We need to understand that only by rising above these material human experiences will we be able to achieve a true, correct impression that will come from the spiritual property called Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, the Temple, Israel, the nations of the world.

All these are inner properties of the human being; the upper forces that we need to reveal. Then the spiritual Jerusalem will be revealed to us and inside of it the spiritual Temple, which is the “holy of holies,” where we will meet with the upper force.

So, everyone has to come to the reevaluation of the upper force and adhesion to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/7/15

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Question: Jerusalem is a city of three religions. In Islam, Jerusalem is considered a holy city because according to legend, the Prophet Muhammad miraculously was transported from Mecca to Jerusalem and from there ascended to heaven. Why do all the religions point to Jerusalem?

Answer: All religions speak of the upper force. The difference is that each of them recognizes its own representative of the upper force: Muhammad, Moses, and Jesus. Religions do not argue with each other regarding the upper force; they all agree with the existence of one God.

All disagreements arise with respect to the representative of this upper force and the requirements that it puts before people through its messenger.

Question: How could religion survive for such a long time, millennia?

Answer: Religions exist because a person has no other way of contacting the upper force but through those prophets, everyone of whom is considered a saint in his religion.

A person is clinging to religion, understanding that everything in this world is transient: today exists, and tomorrow does not. Only connection to the Upper Force—eternal and perfect—does not disappear. Every religion teaches us how to behave in order to come, through a particular prophet, a representative of the Upper Force, in contact with it.

The wisdom of Kabbalah does not deal with religions and faiths, which exist in great numbers, in addition to the main three.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” that the true religion is Kabbalah that reveals the Creator to the human being. And the religions that exist today are just intended to support a person during the time when he develops until he grows out of them and will be able to grasp the overall comprehensive methodology, that is, Kabbalah.

Kabbalah does not belong to any religion: not to Judaism or Christianity or Islam. In it we reach the point where “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people,” and all the nations of the world will come to the Creator.

Therefore, everyone must use the same technique for revealing the Creator to the created beings, not related to any single nation. Abraham is the forefather of all three religions, which therefore are called Abrahamic.

But in fact, the basis of Abraham’s teaching is the wisdom of Kabbalah. Abraham wrote The Book of Creation, in which he tells how to reveal the upper force, which is hidden from us.

The group of Abraham’s disciples, that later grew and turned into the people of Israel, revealed the upper force. The people of Israel lived in connection with the upper force until the destruction of the Temple. It is written that “They checked from Dan to Beer Sheba … and did not find a baby boy or a baby girl, a man or a woman who were not proficient in laws of impurity and purity.”

Their desires were so corrected that even a child could feel the upper force. There was a time in the history of the nation of Israel until it fell from this high level and found itself in darkness and concealment of the Creator. Then all the religions appeared.

But now we live in a time when all the religions are gradually exposing their emptiness. They are revived for the last time before disappearing completely. We are going to witness major wars within each religion and between them.

This was told by the prophets describing the so-called era of the Messiah in which we find ourselves today. We are faced with a very difficult time until people become completely disappointed in all religions and realize what the only correct actual method is. Kabbalah not only talks about the prophets and their prophecies, but reveals the upper force to man.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/7/15

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The Torah, “Exodus” 35:1 – 35:3: Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: “These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”

Initially we deal with the egoistic desires of a person or the society.

The Torah tell us that all we need to do is overcome our ego and gather together above it into one single whole. So this Parasha (Torah portion), is called, “VaYikahel” (assembled).

It speaks about the gathering of all the separated, distant, and hostile parts of the collective soul, which are found in all of us and which we need to gather, like a puzzle, into one single soul.

Through the connection of these parts, we begin to arrange them under the influence of the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the characteristic of bestowal and love of the Creator. If we try to be like Him, then to the degree of our efforts, He will influence us and help our gathering into a mutual, integral connection.

Then we will see how our mutual characteristics create something whole, some kind of complete image, which in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called a Partzuf, meaning a block or structure.

This Partzuf is composed of Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. In the first six Sefirot, that symbolize the six days of the week, we need to work in gathering the separated parts of the soul. If we succeed in this, then the Light will finish the complete gathering, working on our efforts throughout the six days of work. And then we do not need to do anything more, since on the seventh day our work is finished.

We make it possible for the Light to finish this welding between us in which then the complete unit of the soul emerges from the separated parts we gathered.

We finish a week, and begin a new week. A part and then another part is gathered, and in this way, we gather our entire common soul. Within a particular number of actions like these we attain the spiritual gathering of all the parts becoming one complete unit, the likeness of Adam (man), which means Domeh (similar to the Creator). With this, we attain the complete correction of humanity, which we must reach.

So Shabbat is the holiest day, for on this day the Light acts, influences our efforts, and finishes them. It is as if throughout the six days we create the work to be done, and on the seventh day the Light carries it out.

If on the seventh day we continue this work, then it is as if we are happy about this shattering of the soul of Adam because we are attempting to do the work instead of the Light. This is the greatest violation of the entire system of correction.

In general, we do part of the work and the Light does part of the work. If we do all of the work ourselves, we are adding even greater destruction into the system and even more strongly rejecting the reciprocity of all the parts that we gathered during the week. Generally, it is preferable to do nothing at all than to gather all week and continue this even on the seventh day. In this way, we would negate the entire method of correction of the system and all of its forward progress.

So prior to the seventh day, it is necessary to finish our efforts, meaning that we stop on the sixth day and make it possible for the Light to weld all the parts, sticking them together. It is said, “It will be a day of rest for you.” Basically, the person is doing work and not just resting. At this time, we finally feel the gradual unity of all six parts into one general whole and we finish the correction of the present spiritual level. And after that, we correct the next level and the next, and so on, week after week.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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In the News (from boyko.ru): “According to a recent study a person’s emotions are nothing but chemical reactions. The feeling of falling in love is aroused by amphetamines and then the body blocks them and releases endorphins which invoke loyalty and dedication.

“Love is a chemical reaction that lasts between 2-4 years. It isn’t a sublime emotion but merely the result of the breaking down of certain chemicals. It happens in the duration of 2-4 years and then a person’s body blocks this reaction in order to protect itself.

“Falling in love is a result of the secretion of amphetamines in reaction to a certain ‘beloved’ person. They actually create the feeling of euphoria and happiness that lovers feel. These substances include noradrenalin and adrenalin which are natural energizing substances. This is why a person feels that he can move mountains in the name of love. When lovers break up the period of the secretion of amphetamines grows longer, but at the same time when amphetamines break down they release dangerous substances including ammonia.

“These processes have a negative effect on the central nervous system and after 2 to 4 years the body gradually suppresses these reactions in order to protect itself. The amphetamines are replaced by other hormones, endorphins, which are commonly known as the happiness hormone and thus being in love is replaced by dedication.”

My Comment: If we study our emotions more deeply, meaning the reactions of our desires, we will discover that it all results from the influence of the Light on the desire, and the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how we can manage the influence of the Light on the desire.
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Question: Why in our time do people become disillusioned with religions?

Answer: A person discovers that no religion can give him fulfillment. After all, all religions appeared due to the fact that the nation of Israel fell from the height of love of others into the unfounded hatred, having lost connection with the upper force of nature.

In response to the darkness, humanity developed religions: Judaism first, then Christianity, and then Islam. These religions did not occur by chance, but each has its own root. Christianity belongs to the left line, Islam – to the right line, and Judaism – to the middle line.

That is how they relate to the spiritual roots because everything in our material world stems from spiritual roots. It is written: “No blade of grass grows until its [guiding] angel above strikes it and says: ‘Grow!’” Therefore, all the phenomena of the world stem from the upper world, and there is nothing new in our world.

Religion is designed to give a person some image of the upper force when he is not aware of it and does not understand it. It helps a person to examine his nature.

Religions have given impetus to the development of philosophy and science. First science was developed by religious people, and only in a few hundred years was it separated from religion and became accessible to everyone.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/7/15

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Question: Jerusalem is a special city, revered throughout the world. How did it happen that it is considered holy by all the three major religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity?

Answer: Kabbalah is not related to religion. For thousands of years it was hidden, but once it lived among the people of Israel, instead of today’s Judaism, as the method of revealing the Creator in this world. Kabbalah allows a person to reveal the Creator, not just to believe in what he had been taught since childhood, not knowing what the upper force is.

Everyone imagines the Creator to the best of his imagination, but the wisdom of Kabbalah does not speak about this blind faith. Kabbalah is the method of revealing the upper force in this world.

This revelation is called “faith” in Kabbalah because faith is bestowal and love of others as of oneself. Due to the human aspiration to get out of oneself and bestow instead of receiving egoistically, one comes closer to the upper force that is good and does good. Then this force is revealed to him.

Everyone should come to this revelation—as it is written, “All shall know Me from the smallest to the greatest among them”—the followers of the three religions and the whole of humanity. This is the program of creation, which we will realize, whether we want to or not.

Meanwhile, we are developing by the path of evolution, and as the wisdom of Kabbalah is hidden, the three religions are preparing humanity to the revelation of the Creator. This preparation happens in the negative form because it reveals the emptiness and helplessness of ordinary faith, lies and lack of understanding, and lack of fulfillment.

In today’s world, religions are mainly used for the separation and division of people. Every religion has many trends within that do not accept each other. The wisdom of Kabbalah is waiting when we discover the emptiness of religion.

Therefore, today’s Jerusalem, which is a holy city for the three world religions, is not a real Jerusalem. Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) represents the “perfect city” (Ira Slemah), in which we all achieve perfection in the relationships between us, complementary to each other.

Connecting with each other, we fulfill the condition under which the Creator is revealed between us according to the law of equivalence of form. If despite all the differences in our religions, faiths, beliefs, and human qualities, we, nevertheless achieve equality and unity, agreeing to ascend above all the differences and cover them all with love, by this we fulfill the condition of the revelation of the Creator within us.

This will be the true Jerusalem.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/7/15

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